US had communicated its position regarding Russia’s ‘renewed invasion of Ukraine’ to Pakistan: Ned Price

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (SABAH): US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price has said the US had communicated its position regarding Russia’s “renewed invasion of Ukraine” to Pakistan, adding that it was the responsibility of every country to “voice objection” to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans.

He was responding to a question during a briefing about how the US saw Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Russia amid tensions between Moscow and Ukraine, which has since escalated to an armed conflict.

“We’ve communicated to Pakistan our position regarding Russia’s further renewed invasion of Ukraine, and we have briefed them on our efforts to pursue diplomacy over war,” Ned Price said, according to a transcript available on the State Department website.

During a briefing, Ned Price was asked by a reporter what the State Department’s assessment was of the timing of PM Imran Khan’s visit.

Saying the US was “certainly aware” of the trip, the spokesperson said, “We believe it’s the responsibility of every responsible country around the world to voice concern, to voice objection to what Putin appears to have in mind for Ukraine.”

Ned Price said the US viewed its longstanding partnership and cooperation with Pakistan as critical to America’s interests.

“We certainly hope, when it comes to those shared interests — the aversion of a costly conflict, the aversion of a destabilising conflict, that every country around the world would make that point clearly in unambiguous language in their engagements with the Russian Federation,” he added.

When asked whether the US believed PM Imran Khan’s visit was an “indirect endorsement” of Putin, Price said the reporter would have to ask the Pakistani government what its intent was. “I’m just not in a position to offer an assessment on the timing of foreign counterparts’ travel to another country,” he said.